Two months after the Oakland school board voted to finalize the district’s 2024-2025 calendar, relieving frantic parents who were trying to plan things like summer vacation and childcare, the district announced the calendar is being adjusted yet again.
The school calendar is important because it dictates things like the start and end of school, winter and spring break dates, early release days, and holidays, enabling parents and school staff to plan vacations, childcare, and lots more.
Some families were frustrated that the 2024-2025 calendar wasn’t in place until February, just three months ahead of the summer break. As summer camp spots are filling up, OUSD parents didn’t know when the end of summer and the start of school would fall, making it difficult to find and commit to a camp or other activities for their kids.
The previously approved calendar set the date for the start of school on Aug. 8 and the end on May 27, 2025. While the certainty eased those scheduling concerns, some still questioned whether it was sensible to have students begin school on a Thursday, and end the year on the day after Memorial Day.
On Wednesday, the board is expected to vote again on the calendar, but this time with a start date of Monday, Aug. 12, and an end date for students of May 29, 2025.
“This pushes the start of school back two days and the end of school back two days. We agree, both the district central office and from what we’ve heard from families and labor partners, that this is a better option,” said Jenine Lindsey, OUSD’s executive director of labor relations during the March 27 meeting.
Creating a calendar is a delicate balancing act, said Oakland Education Association President Ismael Armendariz. OUSD has to negotiate the calendar with the teachers and other unions, and it has to account for things like the minimum number of days, instructional minutes, and prep periods for teachers.
“To get it right for students and educators and for our community takes a lot of thoughtful discussion. I do appreciate the district working with us to get it right,” Armendariz told The Oaklandside. “I do believe this is a better calendar for everybody. We look forward to having a long-term solution so we can have stability with the calendar going forward.”
The teachers’ union and school district leaders both say they want to move toward a three-year calendar, like other school districts have, so that multiple years can be set at once, instead of negotiating the next year’s calendar every year.
Lindsey, who also serves as the district’s interim general counsel, said during the March 27 meeting that they’ve made an agreement to establish a three-year calendar starting next year.
